Della McGill has suffered two ectopic pregnancies and said in vitro fertilisation offered her and and Ryan Cunningham the chance of having a baby.

Last month, the Belfast Health Trust announced a temporary halt on offering fertility treatment as part of a raft of cost-cutting proposals.

Access to the Regional Fertility Centre for an estimated 320 new patients would be deferred until next April, it said.

'Our hearts are broken'

They would then join a waiting list that is already up to nine months long for certain treatments.

Image copyrightScience Photo LibraryImage caption
Women in Northern Ireland are entitled to one fertility cycle paid for by the Health Service

Ms McGill, 35, said she was "heartbroken" when she heard the news.

"The current political deadlock at Stormont has obviously contributed to all the other problems that we are facing, the uncertainty of our future and the possible postponement of potentially never having our family and we aren't getting any younger," she told BBC news NI.

"We've already been through a nightmare for two years. I have suffered two ectopic pregnancies and lost one fallopian tube.